The Silver Fern

Highly recommend this. One of NZ’s greatest - yet under appreciated - sports stories…

Hansen will go after end of season player review - players hate him

Scott Barrett and Ardie Savea not playing SR next year is looking a massive gamble by them and a huge get-out-jail opportunity for the selectors

Sack the coach and the new guy selects what International quality players? Billy Proctor was the best player in Super Rugby and he’s not Test match standard

Clever selection by Razor. The England coaches will be studying Proctor’s 8 Tests to see what threat he poses, therefore wasting their entire week

You truly believe that the coaches are holding the All Blacks back to engineer a scenario where a returning player can therefore make them look better for 1/3rd of the World Cup cycle?

The ABs are only on hold for him because our other two test 10s haven't grabbed the jersey with both hands.

If BB and Dmac had been dominating I don't think RMo comes back. He'd have been watching. If he'd seen Beaudie or Damien killing it, he'd have thought "I'll take two more seasons earning mega-bucks in Japan, thanks".

But there's an opportunity there and a competitive itch to scratch.

I don't blame him for wanting to have another crack at a RWC. And I don't blame NZR for ensuring the best talent they can afford is available for a World Cup mission.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

He might come back and suck at NPC. Between now and then Dmac or Beaudie might catch fire.

You can't blame Richie and can't blame NZR for wanting to give it a crack given both aspire to win the next RWC. You can blame rugby economics which means we can't hold onto our best players for their entire 16-year career.

Jordie on his way home

What an uninspiring Baabaas team.

Would be better to call them South Africa XV and have the match as an A International

@No-Quarter said in All Blacks 2025:

@frugby said in All Blacks 2025:

Suggesting Scott Robertson is some Ted Lasso, David Brent character just ain’t it. The guy has won basically every season of his career until now.

He has underwhelmed in black no doubt, but he isn’t an idiot.

I dunno man, taking one of your most senior players who is clearly a smart guy and showing him pictures of farm animals and asking him to bark at his team mates like a dog seems pretty idiotic to me. I am a bit taken aback by that haha.

If you read the entire book our most-capped and one of our most revered All Blacks talks about how that message resonated with him. He credits the interaction with taking his leadership to a new and necessary level.

I'm willing to bet said All Black is a better judge of what makes a good rugby coach than any of us tapping our little brains out on a message board.

Who are the attack masterminds out there? We ain't getting Tony Brown this side of the RWC

According to that article a WTG player will also be on a NPC contract effectively making them a year-round pro player. Which makes Harry Inch's departure to a better pathway all the more frustrating.

@nostrildamus said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:

@Wurzel said in All Blacks & All Blacks XV EOYT Squads 2025:

Jamie Joseph exercising self interest to ready Pledger for the Landers.

We've got two years to get Dylan World Cup-ready. He should be playing introductory International rugby this November.

So Joseph does have some selection sway?!
[In reference to other posters] I find it hard to believe he doesn't have influence over selection to some extent. He doesn't strike me as a pushover type of guy!

He said in an interview on Sport Nation that he's free to select any player that the All Blacks selectors don't want.

Jamie Joseph exercising self interest to ready Pledger for the Landers.

We've got two years to get Dylan World Cup-ready. He should be playing introductory International rugby this November.

Fakatava in, Pledger not

Midfield of Havili, Ennor, McLeod and Rona

Ardie and Beaudie are way bigger defections. Yes, they were out of contract, but they walked away from the team that defined them

Jared Hoeata

I've seen more fearsome Boks 23s in the last few years

Speaking of Dagg and ex players not being critical of current ABs, evidently he’s not a Rieko fan… and wasn’t when they played together

If Proctor misfires again this weekend where does that leave us for the Springboks?

Because, Wallabies aberration aside, I don't like the sound of Kriel, DDA and Esterhuizen running at Mr. Looks-Good-At-Super